Denver - The Nebraska women's basketball team used a 13-3 surge to open the second half and a 14-4 spurt eight minutes later to pull away with an impressive 76-55 victory over Denver at Magness Arena on Monday.
With the victory, Nebraska improved to 4-0 for the first time since the 2001-02 season while posting its second Monday night road win of the year. Denver slipped to 1-2 on the season.
Junior forward Cory Montgomery led the Huskers with a game-high 20 points, her second straight 20-point effort and fourth 20-point performance of her career. Montgomery went 10-for-10 from the free throw line to help the Huskers set the school record with a perfect 18-for-18 effort at the foul line. The 6-2 native of Cannon Falls, Minn., also matched her season-high with nine rebounds.
Montgomery led four Huskers in double figures in a true team effort. Junior guard Yvonne Turner pumped in a season-high 15 points, while adding season highs with five assists and four steals to help the Huskers.
Senior Tay Hester added 11 points while contributing a season-best four steals of her own, as Nebraska forced 25 Denver turnovers on the night. Junior guard Kala Kuhlmann pitched in 11 points, while junior guard Nicole Neals tied her career high with nine points, all in the first half on a career-best three three-pointers.
Nebraska hit 45.5 percent (25-55) of its field goals on the night, including a sizzling 58.3 percent in the second half. The Huskers connected on 8-of-15 three-pointers on the night, including 5-of-10 shooting in the first half thanks to Neals' hot hand. NU matched Denver on the boards with 29, while going plus-seven in the turnover column (25-18).
Denver shot a solid 46.8 percent (22-47) from the field on the night, but the Huskers held DU to just 8-of-23 shooting in the second half, which included shutting down the Pioneers from the field for more than five minutes midway through the second half.
Brianna Culberson led DU with 12 points, while Ashly Robinson added 10 points, but the duo combined for just six points against a suffocating Husker defense in the second half.
Nebraska led for all but the first four minutes of the first half and carried a 33-32 lead into the locker room at halftime. Neals gave the Huskers a huge lift off the bench in the opening half, connecting on a trio of three-pointers to lead NU with nine first-half points. Kuhlmann added seven first-half points off the bench, while Montgomery pitched in six first-half points.
As a team, the Huskers connected on 5-of-10 first-half three-pointers, while knocking down all six of their free throw attempts. However, NU hit just 35.5 percent (11-31) of its field goal attempts while committing 10 turnovers. Nebraska forced 14 DU turnovers, but was outrebounded 16-14 in the opening stanza.
Denver hit 58.3 percent (14-24) of its first-half field goal attempts, including 2-of-6 three-pointers. DU also hit both of its free throw attempts.
The Huskers continue their three-game Thanksgiving road trip when they travel to Albuquerque, N.M., for the Holiday Inn and Suites Express Midtown Thanksgiving Tournament. Nebraska opens the four-team tournament on Friday, Nov. 28, against Butler at 6 p.m. (central). The hosts from New Mexico will face William & Mary in the tournament's second game on Friday. All games in the tournament will be available with live video on Lobos All-Access, on the University of New Mexico website.
Official Basketball Box Score Official Basketball Box Score Nebraska vs Denver 11/24/08 7 p.m. at Denver, Colo. (Magness Arena)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Nebraska (4-0) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 40 Montgomery, Cory.... f 5-10 0-0 10-10 6 3 9 1 20 0 4 1 1 29 05 Burke, Kaitlyn...... g 1-4 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 2 3 1 0 0 1 18 22 Turner, Yvonne...... g 4-9 3-6 4-4 0 3 3 2 15 5 2 0 4 27 24 Kelley, Dominique... g 1-5 0-1 3-3 0 1 1 3 5 5 3 0 1 22 32 Hester, Tay......... g 5-9 0-0 1-1 1 2 3 2 11 1 3 1 4 26 11 Neals, Nicole....... 3-6 3-4 0-0 0 0 0 2 9 1 3 0 1 23 13 Kuhlmann, Kala...... 5-6 1-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 11 0 1 0 0 28 15 Whittaker, Monique.. 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 6 21 Sidhu, Harleen...... 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 7 35 Periago, Jessica.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 42 Bober, Nikki........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 5 44 Redmon, Catheryn.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 8 TEAM................ 5 2 7 Totals.............. 25-55 8-15 18-18 14 15 29 17 76 14 18 3 14 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-31 35.5% 2nd Half: 14-24 58.3% Game: 45.5% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-10 50.0% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 53.3% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 6-6 100 % 2nd Half: 12-12 100 % Game: 100 % 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Denver (1-2) TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 21 Robinson, Ashly..... f 5-5 0-0 0-0 2 3 5 1 10 0 3 0 0 25 40 Culberson, Brianna.. f 6-11 0-1 0-0 2 1 3 2 12 3 5 3 2 25 54 Bents, Sara......... f 2-3 0-0 0-1 4 3 7 2 4 0 1 3 3 28 04 Otero, Celena....... g 2-7 0-1 1-2 0 1 1 2 5 3 2 0 3 22 31 Mason, Andie........ g 3-7 2-6 0-0 0 0 0 1 8 1 1 1 1 31 05 Rice, Britteni...... 0-2 0-1 2-2 0 1 1 4 2 0 1 0 1 7 12 Vaughan, Jenny...... 1-4 0-1 2-2 0 1 1 2 4 2 5 1 1 17 24 Murdoch, Kaetlyn.... 2-4 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 3 5 0 3 0 1 24 33 Akotaobi, Nnenna.... 1-4 0-1 3-4 0 1 1 0 5 1 2 0 1 18 42 Jasperson, Anne..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 44 Leichliter, Abbey... 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 TEAM................ 3 4 7 2 Totals.............. 22-47 2-11 9-15 13 16 29 17 55 10 25 8 13 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-24 58.3% 2nd Half: 8-23 34.8% Game: 46.8% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 0-5 0.0% Game: 18.2% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 7-13 53.8% Game: 60.0% 3
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Randy Campbell, Bryan Hall, Donnovan Briggans Technical fouls: Nebraska-None. Denver-None. Attendance: 654 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Nebraska...................... 33 43 - 76 Denver........................ 32 23 - 55